House immigration bill stuck

As a secretive House group works toward a bipartisan fix to the nation’s immigration laws, at least two key issues are emerging as potential flashpoints that could force the two parties in different directions.

The group of eight lawmakers — four Republicans and four Democrats — initially agreed internally to consider a deal on visas for low-skilled workers cut by labor and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, which have been working with senators trying to advance a higher-profile immigration plan. But Republicans are now privately ruling out that compromise, saying it is too friendly to labor.

Story Continued Below

These Republicans are instead moving to introduce their own legislation for low-skilled workers entering the U.S., according to Democrats and Republicans involved in the negotiations.

Republicans are also mulling over hefty restrictions on companies that hire higher-skilled workers. An employer that hires an H-1B worker would need to certify they haven’t fired anyone 90 days before or after having that employee work at the site — a method to ensure companies aren’t firing U.S. workers and replacing them with foreign workers. Some GOP lawmakers could introduce a bill containing this language in coming weeks, several sources familiar with negotiations said.

The House group initially planned to announce its immigration proposal this week, but several unresolved issues have delayed it. The Senate’s Gang of Eight — a bipartisan group — is also working on sweeping immigration reform, which is nearing completion after a deal on low-skilled workers.

Republicans considering going their own way on those two issues don’t signal the end for the House group. Their difficulties in signing on to the plan, however, highlight the different paths the House and Senate are taking in trying to craft a sweeping immigration overhaul.

As the Senate seeks to move a singular package, the House is likely to move its immigration overhaul in pieces, which will give lawmakers in both parties the opportunity to publicly vote against elements of the overhaul without bringing down the whole proposal. Whichever elements of the bill eventually pass the House will then be negotiated with the Senate’s legislation.

“I am very, very optimistic that the House is going to have a plan that is going to be able to go to a conference with the Senate in which we are going to be able to resolve differences,” Rep. Luis Gutierrez (D-Ill.) said Sunday on CNN’s “State of the Union.”

As the House returns this week, the immigration group will kick into high gear. The group includes Republican Reps. Sam Johnson and John Carter of Texas, Mario Diaz-Balart of Florida and Raul Labrador of Idaho. Democrats in the group include Gutierrez, and Reps. Xavier Becerra of California, Zoe Lofgren of California and John Yarmuth of Kentucky.